Robert Petterson - 101 Amazing Stories of Hope and Faith: Inspiring Stories from Real Life

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101 Amazing Stories of Hope and Faith: Inspiring Stories from Real Life

Copyright 2020 by Robert A. Petterson. All rights reserved.

Adapted from The One Year Book of Amazing Stories, published in 2018 under ISBN 978-1-4964-2401-3.

Designed by Eva M. Winters

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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ISBN 978-1-4964-4667-1

ISBN 978-1-4964-4669-5 (ePub); ISBN 978-1-4964-4668-8 (Kindle); ISBN 978-1-4964-4670-1 (Apple)

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These amazing stories are dedicated to three generations of amazing females...

J OYCE , my wife,
a remarkable woman whose unfailing love and steadfast support have given beauty, substance, and wonder to our story together.

R ACHAEL , our attorney daughter,
a woman of force and unfailing compassion, champion of the powerless, whose tireless work transforms the stories of the sojourners among us from despair to hope.

M AE and M IRA , our granddaughters,
whose infectious joy, determination, and insatiable curiosity will continue our amazing story for generations to come.

J. K. Rowling says, Theres always room for a story that can transport people to another place. Great stories take us to the hidden places of our unexplored imagination. They have the capacity to touch something deep within us something that goes beyond mere facts and cold logic to empower us with transforming insights. Stories remind us that we are not alone and inspire us to believe that the impossible is actually possible. Thats why God fills the Bible with epic tales of adventure, intrigue, and love and why, when Jesus wanted to move people, he told stories.

The amazing stories tucked inside these pages are about real people like you and me. These folks have lived in every age and come from every walk of life. Yet the footprints they leave behind can embed themselves deeply in our own lives, often in ways that astound. In these stories, you will discover that there are no little people, small places, or unimportant encounters.

Some of these stories will ignite your imagination. Others will catch you by surprise as you discover amazing things about people you thought you knew. In each one, you will see Gods truths illustrated in the most unexpected ways.

Its my hope that these stories will inform, inspire, and transform you as much as they have me. Most of all, I hope they will inspire you to tell your own story. I believe this about you: the best lines and chapters of your amazing life story are still waiting to be written.

Dr. Robert Petterson

In 1986 Italian runner Gianni Poli won the New York City Marathon in two hours and eleven minutes. In 2003, Mark Yatich of Kenya triumphed at the Los Angeles Marathon in a time of two hours and ten minutes.

But the greatest marathons of all time may have been run by the guy who finished dead last in both races, in the slowest times ever recorded. In 1986 he completed the New York City race in about ninety-eight hours. It took him a little more than 173 hours to cross the finish line at Los Angeles in 2003.

Before you write Bob Wieland off, you need to know that he completed both marathons using only his arms and torso. Bob has no legs. In 1969, while trying to rescue a fallen buddy in Vietnam, he stepped on a mortar round designed to destroy tanks. He sent this short note to his parents:

Dear Mom and Dad,

Im in the hospital. Everything is going to be okay. The people here are taking good care of me.

Love,

Bob

P.S. I think I lost my legs.

Bob could have shriveled up in a wheelchair. Instead, he walked across America on his hands. That exploit took three years, eight months, and six days. Hes the only double-amputee ever to complete the Iron Man Triathlon in Kona, Hawaii, without a wheelchair. He swam 2.4 miles, then biked 112 miles, and finished up with a 26.2-mile marathon using only his arms. He twice made a 6,200-mile round-trip bike ride across America and has amassed four world records in weight lifting, including a 570-pound bench press!

Its no wonder Bob Wieland is called Mr. Inspiration. The NFL Players Association awarded him the title The Most Courageous Man in America. People magazine dubbed him one of the six most amazing Americans. After he took more than a week to complete the Los Angeles Marathon while walking on his hands at age fifty-seven, Bob told the Associated Press, This was supernatural. It was done by the grace of God. He then summed up life without legs: I do it one step at a time.

Bob Wieland reminds us that the race of life isnt won by the fastest. Its always good to remember that by perseverance and patience the snail made it to Noahs ark before the Flood. Most victories in life are won by plodders. And only the persistent learn to run on their arms after their legs are gone. Maybe the wear and tear of life has put you on the ragged edge of giving up before the race is over. The story of Bob Wieland reminds us that when our legs are gone and our arms are worn to nubs, we can still make it. Bob would agree with something Robert W. Service once wrote:

Its the steady, quiet, plodding ones who win in the lifelong race.

I have observed something else under the sun. The fastest runner doesnt always win the race, and the strongest warrior doesnt always win the battle.

ECCLESIASTES 9:11

Though his warrior father had carved out a kingdom for the crown prince, it was not big enough. This prince had a voracious appetite that could never be satisfied. That craving for more would send him to the ends of the earth in a never-ending quest that still astounds the world some 2,500 years later.

The crown prince was only twenty years old when his father was assassinated. After rounding up and ruthlessly executing all of his rivals, the boy conqueror began his long march across planet Earth. His army of some thirty thousand warriors blitzkrieged from the Balkans to India in less than thirteen years. They covered some ten thousand miles on sandaled feet, making the mechanized conquests of our high-tech military operations look almost slow by comparison.